BanG Dream! 3rd Season

"Kira kira doki doki" - Kasumi Toyama (since 2017 - first season)

Nippon Budokan - the dream of many bands and idol groups. However, it is not an easy thing to achieve, but you can reach a lot with a strong will and hard work. Popipa's dream was always to play there and finally they did it!

STORY:
Three months after Poppin’Party's self-sponsored live show, the local live house owners, including CiRCLE's Marina (especially famous from the mobile game), organize the BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge. The final of the tournament will take place at Budokan. The focus is on Poppin Party, Raise a Suilen and Roselia, ... but we also get to see the girls from Hello Happy World, Afterglow and Pastel Palettes. With RAS we get to see a band which doesn't really had any impact in the previous seasons, so we also learn a lot about them as a band.
The three focusing bands are excited about this important tournament and each of them is preparing to collect votes at their local live houses. Since only the top two with the most votes will have the chance, no one wants to lose. They work hard every day and night; they produce new MV’s and work on new songs and lyrics.

CHARACTERS:
All characters are already known from the previous two seasons. Nevertheless, we learn a lot of new things and backgrounds from individual characters (e.g. Pareo). What is admirable is how much respect they give each other even though they are competing. Their friendship is just wonderful.

ART:
We get to see the “typical” BanG Dream art style here again. Anyone who has already watched the second season will feel comfortable with the style. It is hard to compare it to another anime, BanG Dream! is simply unique.

SOUND:
It can only be said that the songs are nice and beautiful to listen as always in BanG Dream! Every band has their own songs which we get to hear here also. The OP "Initial" and ED "Yume wo Uchinuku Shunkan ni!" are both sung Poppin Party, but there is a little surprise for the ending of the last episode. We also get to hear many band typical songs from the game.

ENJOYMENT:
As a big BanG Dream fan, I had high expectations for the third season. I was not disappointed; I had so much fun watching it. Finally, our girls have reached their dream after so much hard work. I can still remember how everything began, where Kasumi founded the band with many difficulties. It definitely paid off four our girls. I have enjoyed every episode and every song; even if it was not peaceful in some situation.
As I said before, to hear the songs again is definitely a highlight for me. I play the game every day and it's just so nice liste to them here again.
It is a little bit sad that Afterglow, PasuPare and HHW didn't have much appearances, but partly it is understandable. These three groups are not a real band (the seiyuus cannot play their instrument, but some of them are trying to learn it) and they do not give live concerts like Popipa, RAS and Roselia. So it makes sense focusing on those three bands.

I certainly don't have to say that for every BanG Dream! fan the third season is a MUST watch. If you haven't watch the previous season, you should start with them, the first and the second season are both worth to watch!

We can only wait for the fourth season and who knows; maybe we will even see the new band Morfonica there!

This is the season BanG Dream fans have been waiting for.

I'm a big fan of this series and have been for a couple years now, and for as well written as the mobile game's story was, I (and many other people) were just waiting for the egg to hatch. There was so much potential in this series, and to have it written off as just more shoveled out seasonal garbage was disheartening.

It's unfortunate that the road to get here was littered with rubbish. Season 1 was extraordinarily bad, and season 2 was lukewarm at best and fell flat at worst. For everybody who got that ... far and decided to call it, it's unfortunate that they might not ever have a chance to see what this franchise has to offer.

This season is the pay-off. It's extremely evident that the creators took past criticisms to heart and did their best to deliver a final product worth raving about. The art, animation, storytelling, absolutely everything has peaked this season, and I loved virtually every second. Here's what I have to say about each:

Story: 8/10

The biggest praise I have to give the story this time around is how they managed to finally break free. The story is absolutely not something novel, however, it's done in such a way that feels fresh and invigorating. It's no longer the series of trope after trope that arbitrarily pushes forward some uninteresting plot. I felt like I had reason to care about the story and the struggles each of the characters had to go through, and it is precisely this sort of connection that storytellers want to create. Sure, this season had its drab moments, but ultimately just blemishes on a bigger whole. And the payoff in the grand finale is just worth it.

Art: 8/10

If you watched Season 2, you'll know that the always-on 3D CG takes some getting used to. They sort of dropped the ball in Season 2, where the art took backseat. This time around, they improved the character designs, graphics, and the animations themselves! I remember early on in one of the first concert MV-inserts, my jaw hit the floor with how detailed it was. I really mean it, I had to pause part way through just so I could take it all in! They really put their best effort in the most important moments. On the off scenes, it can feel a little poor due to the triple frame animation, but they hit hard where it counts, and I appreciate it.

Sound: 9/10

I loved the OST. A lot of it is re-used from Season 2, which I liked anyway, but there are some new songs here. I'm eagerly awaiting the OST to release physically so I can snag a copy, I really feel it's worth picking up. A lot of the insert songs were pretty jamming, too. I particularly like the ending theme.

Character: 8/10

Like I said in the Story section, while this is nothing new, I felt there were legitimate reasons to feel attached to these characters. Slightly trope-y, indeed, but the interactions and dynamics between the cast as a whole flows in such a delicate balance that I can only describe as working as intended.

Enjoyment: 10/10

Yes, I'm biased here. Like I've said, this is the season we've all been waiting for. Right from the get-go, from episode 1, this season hit the ground running, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I loved pretty much every moment!

Conclusion: 8/10

While I'd love to say, "if you're not a BanG Dream fan, forget the other two seasons and just watch this", that unfortunately isn't possible. Season 1 could probably be skipped without much value being lost, but Season 2 pretty much directly ties into this. However, I hope my sentiment holds: If you're willing to bear with one bad season and one mediocre season to get to this, I personally promise you that you'll not be disappointed. This season was interesting, funny, sounded great, had lovable characters, and honestly just all-around fun to watch. I'll probably do it again soon!

And if you're a BanG Dream fan like me, I promise you, this is truly where the series belongs. I sincerely hope we'll see more in the future. After all, if the trend of each-season-just-gets-better keeps up, who knows where this could go?

If you'd like to hear why I kept saying I loved "virtually every" moment, please see the spoiler-filled full review as a blog post on my profile.

And finally, if you're an Afterglow fan like I am, prepare to be very thoroughly disappointed.

RAISE A SUILEN's SEASON

RAISE A SUILEN or to be more precise CHU2 was mostly the antagonist to the rest of the bands during the second season, but in this season RAISE A SUILEN as a whole is peered into a microscope and showing their dynamic as a band with some rough patches here and there. Now RAISE A SUILEN as a band was missing a position that or the guitarist (which Tae subbed in as during the second season). Rokka Asahi voiced by Riko Kohara reluctantly agrees to this as CHU2 DEMANDS she be in their band. Rokka early on this season becomes a focal ... point as she struggles with being a major fan of Popping Party whilst joining a band that wants to "crush" Popping party at the same time....yeah she becomes the guitarist of RAISE A SUILEN latter on.

But LA wasn't kidding that this season focuses on RAISE A SUILEN as a band and to be honest we get know the rest of the members in more detail than previous seasons and how they "tick" as a band while also seeing them in their most damaged states. How they tick as a band is rather nice seeing them surge in the rankings BUT their synergy as a band comes into effect in making great music, how the members gets in a bad state however on one part is due CHU2's never-ending quest to crush Popping Party and Roselia and be the 1# band and second is that CHU2 thinking she's above her band members and that obviously causes a divide in the band, as much as CHU2 wants the "best" for her band deep down.

Rokka for the band seems to be the glue that keeps the band together oddly enough for the last member to join the band but nonetheless it does makes sense as Rokka learned a bit from Popping Party and wants to BE LIKE A BAND like Popping Party. LAYER voiced by Raycell though the most cool headed of the group, giving us hints form the seocnd season, seems like she doesn't know WHAT to do with RAISE A SUILEN as a band as much as she's the lead singer of it and latter we find out that she was more or less carried along with the flow by CHU2 to get her into the band. MASKING voiced by Natsume is more or less the emotional through-line of the band as much as Rokka is but like CHU2 wants the best for the band, she just wants it in a less restraint manner that CHU2 wants it and she likes her friends in RAISE A SUILEN as well as the rest of the rival bands. Finally we have PAREO voiced by Reo Kurachi which latter on we get her backstory and LA could relate to her and through this, PAREO actually became LA's favoruite character in RAISE A SUILEN as a result, but PAREO wants the band to succeed due to her highly respecting CHU2.

CHU2 this season got some MUCH needed character development as sure she's still the antagonist to the rest of the rival bands but this season soften her up from the ruthless bratty half pint to the rets of RAISE A SUILEN's band members showing her that not being 1# isn't the end goal, it's "being in the band and having fun with it all", much like Popping Party band philosophy (as it were).

On speaking of which, Popping party and by extension, Roselia, Afterglow, Hello Happy World and Pastel Palettes due to this season largely focusing on RAISE A SUILEN gets lessened screentime with probably the biggest band players being Roselia due to the ongoing feud of Yukina and CHU2 and Popping Party wanting to bring the limelight back onto them while RAISE A SUILEN and Roselia punch out for "Best Band" . If anything this 3rd Season looked more into the characters as a collective band than the individuals themselves and with RAISE A SUILEN needing to BE a band and all, LA can see why this 3rd Season took this route and to this defense alot of the character development of the individual characters that needed it was already covered in the previous seasons before it.

The animation done once again by SANZIGEN was the same as it's second season and to be honest SANZIGEN actually did MUCH better in the 3DCGI especially in it's band lives this season especially with how intense and driven CHU2 was in wanting to crush Roselia that their lives were outright amazing as much as the 3DCGI were there. The character designs and backgrounding ain't much to talk about as it's the same as the 2nd season before it so LA doesn't really need to touch on this for this season.

The voice cast is back as though RAISE A SUILEN takes center stage this season, LA will say RAISE A SUILEN's voice cast did a pretty good job in their roles with Natsume as MASKING and Reo Kurachi as PAREO being standouts for LA to which the majority of RAISE A SUILEN's voice actresses were actually singers before turning into VA's and fine...as much LA has soften up to CHU2 through this season, LA will give props to Risa Tsumugi's rather colorful way of how CHU2 acts...be it good or bad, Risa Tsumugi does the bratty half pint well. Again due RAISE A SUILEN taking center stage this season, the rest of the voice cast DOES get less of a screentime but nonetheless same voice cast as the previous season so not much to say about it besides RAISE A SUILEN themselves in which they were a great addition voice cast-wise.

Ok ok, so with all those technicals done with and LA tackled RAISE A SUILEN. What is the plot to the 3rd Season of Bang Dream!, well leaving off from the seocnd season, CHU2 pretty much forms her band and wants to be the "Best Band" with a contest against the rest of the rival bands. Roselia is CHU2's target and Popping Party wants to pretty much get into the action and be noticed again with all the band carnage Roselia vs. RAISE A SUILEN is getting. ALOT of stuff happen in between with RAISE A SUILEN members now more consistently intermingling with the rest of the rival band members be it from lives or "rest days" as it were and LA really liked this, pretty much showing off that as much as RAISE A SUILEN is the rival band to the rest of the bands, it's members (sans CHU2) isn't like CHU2. Not to mention ALOT of the interactions in general were funny one way or another or interesting especially is opening up with the RAISE A SUILEN members.

THIS IS RAISE A SUILEN's season, no doubt, but this is also RAISE A SUILEN's opening up to the rest of the bands and even further beyond that, softening up of CHU2 and making her opening up to the fact that being 1# isn't the ONLY thing forming a band is all about. The 2nd Season made out CHU2 as the latter but the 3rd Season REALLY did soften CHU2 and made this season REALLY interesting than ever before and though LA was a HUGE detractor from the first season, with the seocnd season and now THIS season.

Though LA still doesn't agree that the band-format will "takeover" the "idol wave", but Bang Dream more or less gave itself a niche in the Japanese cultural landscape and much like CHU2 needing to see that being 1# isn't all that, Bang Dream's creators needed to know that they created their own landscape and not needed to "crush" anything to be 1# and this 3rd Season showed IT possible to have a great girl band anime and Bang Dream's 3rd Season is IT.

This is coming from someone who again was a HUGE detractor of Bang Dream thanks to the dismal first season, but 3rd Season and by extension the 2nd Season that essentially was the buildup to the 3rd Season pulled off a GREAT season with this one and LA wouldn't mind more of Bang Dream!...what?...uhhh..an all male band in an alternative universe with the named

Argonavis?...

Ultimately, you probably already know if you should watch the third season, because you'll (hopefully) have watched the second.

But, man oh man, I really gotta say, they really enjoy outclassing themselves every season.

If I could put it into a metaphor,

Season one is like a well done steak. Yes, it's hardly the best steak, but it's steak and it's good even if it's tough to get through.

Season two is like your regular, medium rare steak, you've made the steak about as good as it can get and you're going to enjoy every bite.

Season three is like, you went out and got the premium steak, you got ... some of that good stuff, A5 Kobe beef strip or something. And you've got just the right amount of seasoning and cooked it perfectly. Could you possibly have a better steak? Sure, maybe. But holy hot potatoes is that some fiiiine fuckin steak.

Edit, now give me an Afterglow anime and I can die happy.

[SPOILERS]
Cute girls doing cute things, is what this anime speaks at you, but it's much more than that. You know, there's something about BanG Dream! that really captures my heart. I don't know if it's the VA's, rhythm game, or the songs, but BanG Dream has really changed me. I've followed Bandori for about 2 years now and I have to say, that it has aged very well. From the shaky first season to now, I can't believe I'm saying this but, season three is the best so far.

Story:
Just a continuation from the last season but we finally see Rokka's full potential and growth ... as a character. Things that happen in this anime are over the top but no to dramatic that you can't see them in real life. Conflicts happen during this show that could really happen in real life and that's where BanG Dream! finally got it right. They finally connected with their audience by making us feel what the characters were feeling. We see the struggle of an underdog bang (Poppin' Party) and 2 juggernauts (RAS and Roselia) fighting for their spots to play at Budokan. We felt the individual struggles that each person had, and we had a deeper understanding of CHU2 and Pareo and what motivated them to become who they are. I can't lie to you though, the show was really good until near the last 2 episodes where they us a cop out "everyone wins" type of vibe, but overall the story was really good and beats out season 1 and 2 out of the water.
8/10

Art:
I think CG in Anime is sort of a love-hate relationship. This show was somewhat in the middle for me. There's some scenes where the animation was really good and some where they were really bad. Other than that, I didn't find the CG to be so bad that I couldn't watch it. When I first heard that it was going to be CG for the second season, I actually was on the fence on watching it and you know what, the CG was really bad LOL, but now, it feels like they have stepped it up and giving us high quality animation. I'm probably just used to it at this point though.
7/10

Sound:
What can I say, it's a band anime. I actually sang along with them which tells you how much time I devote my life to Bandori. We don't really need to talk about the VA's. Just know that I love all of them.
10/10

Characters:
Wow, so much character development during this show. Basically, we see Roselia and RAS's growth as they find one another in the friendships that they have. They struggled with each other, and these types of struggles are found in the real world. Pareo's real identity and who she actually wants to become, CHU2 and her work ethic to become the greatest. Sayo's struggle in losing and defeat. There's many more, but that will defeat the purpose if you haven't watched the anime yet.
10/10

Enjoyment:
Really love this anime, no questions asked. I loved everything about this anime, and it shouldn't be written off of people's list just because it's a "K-On" rip-off (which it totally isn't). It's not just cute girl's doing cute things, but it's about finding who you are and becoming the star that you wanted to be.
10/10

Overall:
I love this anime and I love BanG Dream!. I can't tell you guys enough how much I love this whole entire series and it has a huge place in my heart. Kira-Kira Doki Doki
9/10

As a whole this season of BanG Dream! was a total improvement in comparison to the previous 2 seasons. The story was well written and focused solely on three bands, Poppin Party, Roselia and Raise A Suilen. Character development of RAS was quite the roller coaster, with both happy parts and sad parts. The songs, which are the main focus of the anime, were also presented quite well. Although it is kinda a letdown that the other three bands, were not given much of the spotlight.

This anime made me laughed, it made me cried and to borrow the words of our protagonist, it made me ... KIRA KIRA, DOKI DOKI. In the age where moe, is becoming the norm, BanG Dream manages to entertain and managed to carry on the torch properly from their Senpais (K-ON!, Love Live, Idolm@ster and so on). Well that what anime does, it inspires people, and this anime manages to do that well.

For those of you who have doubts on watching this series. Take a deep breath and take a leap of faith. Because rather than trying to enjoy the anime, BanG Dream! will make you love it from start to finish.

TLDR; This is truly the age of the Girls Band.

[SPOILERS]

From a group of strangers in the same school, to performing together in the budokan. They have grew so much, not only as a band but as a person. Especially Saaya. After the introduction of RAS, i also felt Roselia grew more too. I guess you could say they never had any “competition”, but when RAS came in, they started to focus on their band more. Producing more music and pushing harder. Whenever the next season comes out. I’m hoping Morfonica will also take the stage as another of the big 3 (popipa, RAS, Roselia). I love this franchise so much, stan choco cornet

I'm such a huge fan of this series and I absolutely loved this show, however, the issues in this show frustrate me as I truly think this show is nearly perfect.

ART: 6/10

Bang Dream has found the capability to have beautiful animation regardless of the 3D CG. I'm also really impressed with the capability of this setting having clear locations and areas. I feel like if I was put into this setting, I would be able to find where everything is in geographical respect to another. However, why the hell did they continue to mix shitty 2D animation with good 3D models? In season two it ... was bad as there was a mix of 2D and 3D every one or two episodes, but you literally cannot escape that shit here. It's incredibly jarring when you have 3D main characters talking to 2D side characters and it doesn't get better as the season continues. Why can't they just pick an art style for the characters and go with it?

SOUND: 7/10

The sound when the performances are occurring are just straight audio tracks of the songs, and I don't even think the music in this season was as good as the last. The sound was adequate.

STORY 9/10

The competition where the bands compete is where things bother me. The competition as a whole is really not fleshed out, and especially the ending feels is unexplained. But the show doesn't focus too much on that and has amazing plots within the bands. Bang Dream is the complete polar opposite of K-ON, where K-ON creates enjoyable moments through slow, detailed scenes. Bang Dream is very intense in terms of how fast the story progresses, but its more of a roller coaster that's thrilling to ride rather than a rushed experience.

CHARACTER 10/10

One of the characters is a dick, but I REALLY LOVE ALL of these characters. Bang Dream could have these characters doing literally nothing and I would love it.

ENJOYMENT 10/10
OVERALL 9/10

Watch if you like bang dream. If you don't, try the series out.

Just a heads up: Spoilers for Season 2 will be present. Though if you haven't watched that, you probably shouldn't even be here. Tl;dr at the end.





The girl bands are at it again, and after a year (with some delays) of waiting, Season 3 picks itself up from where Season 2 left us off, with Chu2 threatening to 'grind them all to dust' at the last moment. Was it worth the wait?



STORY: This was a wild ride from start to finish, as it focused on both the ups and downs of the main bands in the show. We properly receive walks from each band's perspective: ... The more down to earth Poppin' Party, the strict elite Roselia, and the absolute hardcore Raise a Suilen. The other bands were present to an extent as well, but the show makes it clear on who they're focusing on, and hones in on that.



ART: The 3D models used by Studio SANZIGEN make a return from Season 2. They were decently used back then, but some complaints about their usage was how characters occasionally seemed 'robotic' in their movements. Season 3 really improves that by a large margin. Characters are way more expressive with their facial expressions than they were in Season 2, and SANZIGEN seems to have gotten used to handling the 3D models of the girls, making their movements feel much more natural compared to Season 2. Unfortunately, it still suffers from them placing 2D models and characters in a 3D world, which may feel jarring to some who saw them in the last season.

The CG performances were nothing short of breathtaking, and the last episode just blew everything Season 2 had to offer out of the water in terms of CGI performances. The only one I can think of that even came close was Returns. The fluidity of movement, and camera angles, everything was absolutely stellar.



SOUND: BanG Dream! is a music franchise, so you'd expect a lot of song-inserts in the episodes, right? Unfortunately, if you were expecting the same variety and amount as Season 2, you will be sorely disappointed. Pretty much all songs, new and old, shown were from Poppin' Party, Roselia, or Raise a Suilen. Does that make it a bad thing? I personally don't think so. While there are those who see this as marketing because 'Poppin' Party, Roselia, and Raise a Suilen' are live bands while the others are not, you have to understand that it doesn't make too much thematic sense to shove in songs from other bands when they are clearly unrelated to the story being told (other than that one short clip of Mou Ichidou Luminous). The reason why them placing a lot of songs worked well in Season 2 was because there wasn't a complete sense of direction the story wanted to take yet in the first few episodes, which is why we got a lot of segments featuring other bands and their songs. When Chu2 said her last words in Season 2, it basically told us what to expect in Season 3. I'll talk more about this when I get to the characters.

With that said, the music was absolutely amazing this Season. The OP (Initial) and ED (Straight Through Our Dreams) were lovely, and multiple new songs (related to the plot, of course) were performed by Poppin' Party, Roselia, and Raise a Suilen. not detracting from the scene at hand.




CHARACTERS: This would go hand-in-hand with the SOUND portion. As mentioned earlier, Chu2 set the gears rolling in that least scene for Season 2, and as a result, the other bands didn't get too much focus (barring one episode). Instead, we get the camera on Poppin' Party, Roselia, and Raise a Suilen. The question then shouldn't be "How many times did x appear on the camera", but rather, was "x's presence/existence handled well?" to which I would say yes. Despite the focus being taken off the other bands, we can see that their relationships still bring them together to engage in meaningful interactions, be it Ran cheering Roselia on alongside the rest of her band members, or Rimi and Arisa talking with Aya and Chisato about their music video. Despite not having the spotlight, the other girls still manage to move on and go about their lives, which shows in mundane gestures like these. With that said, though, if your favorite character is from a non-live band and you were hoping to see a lot of them, you may be a little disappointed.

The main cast was handled fairly well. Poppin'Party received a lot of development in Season 2, so it only made sense that there wouldn't be too much for them to have to deal with in Season 3, unlike Roselia or Raise a Suilen. Roselia received their own development this season as well, but from watching the early episodes, it's pretty clear that the season focuses the most on Raise a Suilen, and they do not disappoint in this regard. Raise a Suilen's characters were properly fleshed out through the course of the story, which helped us to slowly understand the motivations of each and every member as to why they act that way and joined the band in the first place. Yes, even the angry gremlin Chu2.


ENJOYMENT: I was not disappointed by other bands not being as prominent in this season, because Season 3 made it clear from the getgo that this was the season of Raise a Suilen. If you were to ask me, I'd rather they be relegated as side characters and have proper conversations with their friends than to be shoved in forcefully to attempt to create a plot (when there already is one). The writers made the right call in choosing who to focus on this season, and as a result, they were able to focus on giving proper development to the cast, most especially Raise a Suilen. The music was absolutely endearing, and I still can't get my mind off the ED and visuals, which felt really melancholic.

CONCLUSION/TL;DR: With an overwhelming cast of 30 in the anime and only 13 episodes, it's only natural that the writers would have to choose which bands to focus on for the season, especially when a plot direction was already established, and they did so spectacularly without making the other bands feel nonexistent. The music and songs weren't as big a number as the previous season, but that was because they were carefully crafted and placed in important moments, instead of shoved in like a big advertisement. The 3D was much better this time around, and the performances especially showcased how well it can get when used properly. All in all, a very wonderful season, continuing from season 2, that focuses on proper development of characters with amazing music and visuals. I would definitely recommend watching.

This season of Bandori was the best by far, it showed of how much could be accomplished if you just find yourself and have fun doing what you love with the people you love.

Story: The story was fantastic, overcoming problems and trusting everyone around you is the best way to get stuff done. This season was mostly about RAS and how they come together as a band, but showed the differences in Roselia and showed Popipa perfectly in a role that doesn't overplay them but puts them in exactly where they need to be for everyine, as the source of enjoyment for everyone.

Art: Was still ... fantastic and still blows my expectation for this style of art I previously did not want to watch. The transitions between normal anime to the playing music was nearly flawless and very nice to watch.

Sound: I still love this music so much, the music brought by Bandori is top quality.

Character: The development that everyone in RAS receives makes them much more likable and gives them the true Bandori frame of a band. Since this season focuses on Roselia, Popipa and RAS, the other bands seem a little left out, but at the same time the support given by all of the characters for each other and how they get along is perfect. So in the end they may be left out a little bit but in reality they're there for each other.

In conclusion, this anime was outstanding, everything I could have wanted Bandori to be is here and the story of it ties it in perfectly.

Disclaimer: This review won't tackle through the individual contents of the anime, but is instead a general overview.

To start things off with Bang Dream! (From this point, will now be called Bandori) Season 3, I'd like to give my short overview on both Season 1 and Season 2.

Season 1 for Bandori was more or less a test run. It did the job of introducing the main cast and some of their songs and all in all, it told the story of the main band, Poppin' Party, quite adequately, but the inherent problem with Season 1 is the fact that it did only that, which is ... sad to say, lacking in a lot of ways. My rating for Season 1 is a solid 5/10.

Then Season 2 came, which heavily improved on a lot of aspects. Weirdly enough despite the extreme change in art, I'd say Season 2 wins more when it came to catching the characters' unique expressions and mannerisms. But what made Season 2 a huge standout compared to Season 1 is the shift from focusing only on the main band to including everyone else and ultimately capturing the biggest charm point of the Bandori series, the characters and their bands. Season 2 felt like an actual anime with an actual story to follow instead of being a "test run" of sorts. A solid 7/10 for me.

Which now brings us to the most recent season as of this review, Season 3, and needless to say, it's a huge, huge step up from its predecessors.

It took what made Season 2 good and emphasized more on that point. I'd argue that it's a bit unfair to give Season 2 a rating of only 7 when it's pretty much setting up for Season 3, but regardless, it helped elevate the following Season.

And damn, did it elevate, way more than it deserves to, even.

By the end of the day, Bandori is about a group of cute girls with fairly big dreams, which they want to achieve together, as a group. Sounds familiar, right?

...You'd think that's all it would offer, and honestly, if that's all this show had, this would still be an alright standard SoL about cute girls doing cute things.

But no, this show not only offered that charm delivered by other anime of similar natures, it also showcased the reality of being a band in a world where you're competing with other equally dedicated groups and things won't always go the way you'd want them to. Not only for our main band, but for the other bands as well.

Season 2 is very notable for its drama and this Season also picked up on that. I'd say that Season 1 was about simple beginnings, while Season 2 was about improving, not only in the context of the actual quality of the series, but with the characters themselves. So where does Season 3 fall under?

I'd say that Season 3's primary focus is on the three bands: Raise A Suilen, Roselia, and of course, Poppin' Party.

Season 3 showcased Season 1's simple premise of beginnings and took it a step further, by adding a tinge of logical reasonings between the interactions of each character with one another. This is where the band, Raise A Suilen, finally comes together.

It also showcased Season 2's premise of improvement. No matter how skilled one is, it doesn't always mean you'll be on the top. Roselia finds an actual opposition with RAS, which was showcased already in Season 2. Despite being arguably the most skilled band in the entirety of the series, even Roselia found improvement within this season.

And lastly, Season 3. As mentioned, it not only featured the best of its predecessors, it also has one key factor, the culmination of everything from the very start.

From Kasumi discovering her guitar, and ultimately Popipa, in the first Season to their internal rifts in Season 2, due to the untimely introduction of RAS.

Popipa has been through so much in the anime, and to see them being thought of as an adversary by even Roselia and RAS, just goes to show, that everything they've gone through, all the positives and all the negatives included, weren't for naught.

Popipa stands firm as one of the best bands in the series and Season 3 beautifully ties together the emotions that have been built up not only by the story, not only by the characters, and not only by the music, but by the fans themselves. To most viewers who have stuck around to even come this far, it's all worth it and to those who are still wondering, trust me, Season 3 is absolutely worth it to even go through the arguably bad first season. It's not exactly rare for these kinds of anime to draw on such warmth within one's own heart but to have an actual quality story to go along with it, now that's rare.

This season most likely won't be the final but if I'm being honest, this may as well be. They'll have to do a lot to top this.

From the art, to the story, and of course, to the music, the entirety of the Bang Dream! series is, as Hina would say: "Boppin'!"